FYI: January 2003

Fiberglass
AflameBeware
the propane torch, especially when lit in a packed marina. In October
a boater used one to warm up the shrink-wrap covering on his cruiser,
and 15 minutes later about 20 boats were ablaze.

The
accidental fire that ravaged the winter storage lot at Kings Cove Marina
on the Mississippi River near Hastings, Minnesota, devastated dozens of
boat owners. Though no one was injured, the blaze laid waste to boats
ranging in size from 28 to 41 feet and caused damages from $15,000 to
hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to the local Star Tribune.

"I
feel bad for the owners whose boats are involved," Laura King Spillane,
co-owner of the marina, told the paper. "This is their cabin, it's
their second home, they live on them all summer long, and they care for
them."

As
the flames roared and the fiberglass burned, many drivers on a nearby
highway reportedly pulled over and watched the destruction. Because firefighters
kept people out of the marina until health risks were analyzed, at presstime
many owners didn't know if their boats had survived. One of them
was Bill Schreiner, the commodore of the Kings Cove Yacht Club, who kept
two boats at the marina.

"I'm
pretty sure one of them is toast," he told the paper, singling out
his 16-foot dinghy Smarty Pants as a likely victim.

Mel
Kidney and his fiancée, Peg Rowe, watched the fire and feared they
had lost their 41-footer, Yes Dear.

"This
was my dream boat, the boat I wanted to retire in," Kidney said.
To make matters worse, he remembered that to prevent fuel-tank condensation
over the winter, he had filled the boat with 320 gallons of fuel. Between
the flammable resins that saturate fiberglass, the tankful of fuel, and
the proximity to the blaze, there seemed to be little hope for the cruiser.

Kidney,
however, kept perspective: "Life is about people," he told
the Star Tribune. "Boats can be replaced."

Indeed,
though firefighters had not identified the person they thought accidentally
started the fire, Kings Cove Marina said it has insurance that will cover
the damages.

172,400The highest price
ever paid, in U.S. dollars, for a 44-pound bluefin tuna to be used for
sushi; January 2001, Tokyo.